ACTIONS FOR BETTER QUALITY OF WATER IN CENTRAL ASIA

With a purpose of providing support to CA countries to tackle the problems of worsening quality of surface waters the Central Asian Regional Environmental Center starts realization of EU project “Harmonization and Compliance of Water Quality Norms and Standards» and UNECE project “Quality of Water in Central Asia”.

The first regional meeting as part of implementation of these projects will be held 3-4 March 2009 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

The meeting is expected to discuss legislative and institutional frameworks of water quality management, the existing problems in monitoring and evaluation of the water quality. There will also be established the regional Working Group on quality of water and its work plan to be discussed. The workshop will be participated by representatives of international organizations, project groups, state organs on environment, water resources and hydrometeorology of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.

Natural scarcity of water resources is worsened by increasing need for production, problems in distributing water among countries, big losses during transportation. Industrial and housing pollution of water sources lead to lower living standards of population and degradation of water ecosystems. Protection and improvement of surface water quality is an urgent problem, which can be solved by the governments of CA countries through undertaking of mutual obligations on appropriate water policy and providing safety of transboundary water quality. Poor quality of water influences all spheres of society – health of population, quality of agricultural products and water ecosystems. Process of worsening water quality is characteristic for the CA region, including for river forming areas.

CAREC Water Initiative Support Programme was established for building cross-sectoral regional cooperation in water resources management and ensuring sustainability ecosystem of water basins. The Programme practice areas are:

• Integrated water management in Central Asia;
• Support of regional cooperation in water economy and transboundary water management;
• Increasing efficiency of water use in Central Asia;
• Decreasing level of pollutants in surface and ground drinking water;
• Compliance of water standards and policies in CA.

Source: CAREC, 5.03.2009